Wasting your time with things I find interesting, amusing, or enraging. Reinke does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations

The foundation for assuring the integrity of any system is auditing and cross-checking. For electronic voting machines, what about audits and recounts? The U.S. Congress put this in Title Three of HAVA, with its warm and reassuring caption, “Uniform and Nondiscriminatory Election Technology and Administration Requirements” –

“[Section 301(a)(2)]. Audit Capacity.

(A) In General. The voting system shall produce a record with an audit capacity for such system.

(B) Manual Audit Capacity.

(i) The voting system shall produce a permanent paper record with a manual audit capacity for such system.

(ii) The voting system shall provide the voter with an opportunity to change the ballot or correct any error before the permanent paper record is produced.

(iii) The paper record produced under subparagraph (A) shall be available as an official record for any recount conducted with respect to any election in which the system is used.” [1]

Read that carefully several times. A decent, trusting American might think that a paper ballot with the voter’s selections will be printed out, the voter will check it to be sure it matches what was selected on the electronic voting machine, and each ballot printed out will be kept by the election department so that a hand recount can be done to check the electronic results. But does it say that?

Notice the cunning wording. The “audit capacity” is for “such system” and not for each individual voter’s ballot. The paper record is for the whole system, meaning the vote totals as created by the electronic voting machines and tabulating computers. You get a printout of the computer’s totals. You do not get a printout of each ballot verified by each voter, to be saved locally for a real recount.

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But hoping to use one of their two independent powers, people turning to the ballot box face the ultimate trump card. Electronic voting machines.

Voters no longer mark their ballots. Local election officials no longer count them. Devices created and programmed in secret do it. No recount is possible. Any fraud is undetectable.

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Two quotes to remember about voting and elections:

“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” ― Mark Twain

Never mind that the “system” is structurally engineered to ensure that you only get to chose between large Gooferment and still larger Gooferment.

(Ross Perot was a democratic operative running to split the republican vote (again). He was campaigning on smaller Gooferment. He was on the verge of winning. He was being so competitive that he had to self-destruct the campaign to ensure the correct result. IMMEDIATELY, the two parties agreed to “reforms” that would prevent any challenge to the duopoly.

Even now, my beloved Libertarian Party, it financed by the D’s to split the R vote. As is the Green Party, which I regard as the Communist Party in disguise, is financed by the R’s to split the D vote.

Guest Post: Detroit’s Bankruptcy WILL Bite You In the WalletBy Editor on July 20, 2013

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All this isn’t even taking into account the rampant corruption, bribes, and ulterior motives that every municipal government is crawling with – those are self-explanatory. Fast-forward a few decades and the politicians who planted the seeds of decay are long gone in one way or another – but now the municipality cannot afford its obligations. Losses on poorly planned projects, debt, and exorbitant employee compensation eat up most of its revenue, and it can no longer afford to provide the essential public services every resident counts on.

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See that is the essence of the problem.

Folks want “free lunch”, but there ain’t none.

Detroit is what happens when the bill comes due.

And they Sheeple and Clover there have voted Democratic for 50 years. (Not that the R’s would be MUCH better.)

Like the Delta pilots, everyone’s getting a haircut.

Unfortunately, a promise is worth what backs it up.

On Wall Street, they have a name for it — “Counterparty risk”.

Sorry to say, but you depend on Gooferment, politicians, and bureaucrats at your own peril.

Obama applied for a position as an adjunct and wasn’t even considered. A few weeks later the law school got a phone call from the Board of Trustees telling them to find him an office, put him on the payroll, and give him a class to teach. The Board told him he didn’t have to be a member of the faculty, but they needed to give him a temporary position. He was never a professor and was hardly an adjunct.

The other professors hated him because he was lazy, unqualified, never attended any of the faculty meetings, and it was clear that the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool. According to my professor friend, he had the lowest intellectual capacity in the building. He also doubted whether he was legitimately an editor on the Harvard Law Review, because if he was, he would be the first and only editor of an Ivy League law review to never be published while in school (publication is or was a requirement).

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORKIRS REFUNDS $46,378,040 TO 23,994 ILLEGALS AT 1 ADDRESSAgency also assigned 15,796 taxpayer IDS to ‘unauthorized aliens’ at single residencePublished: 1 hour ago

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(CNS News) The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). That was not the only Atlanta address theoretically occupied by thousands of “unauthorized” alien workers receiving millions in federal tax refunds in 2011.

In fact, according to a TIGTA audit report published last year, four of the top ten addresses to which the IRS sent thousands of tax refunds to “unauthorized” aliens were in Atlanta.

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Are you kidding me?

Let VISA do that and there would be a ton of executives getting fired.

I realize what folks do with their money is their own business, but felt this was informative and might prove helpful.

As you open your pockets to do a good thing and make yourself feel good, please keep the following facts in mind:

The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans’ salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses

March of Dimes It is called the March of Dimes because only a dime for every 1 dollar is given to the needy.

The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.

UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k permonth) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.

Goodwill CEO and owner Mark Curran profits $2.3 million a year. Goodwill is a very catchy name for his business. You donate to his business and then he sells the items for PROFIT. He pays nothing for his products and pays his workers minimum wage! Nice Guy. $0.00 goes to help anyone! Stop giving to this man.

Instead, give it to any of the following go “green” and put your money where it will do some good:

The Salvation Army Commissioner, Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only $13,000 per year(plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a$0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

TheDisabled American Veterans National Commander receives a$0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Military Order of Purple Hearts National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

Make a Wish For children’s last wishes. 100% goes to funding trips or special wishes for a dying child.

St. Jude Research Hospital 100% goes towards funding and helping Children with Cancer who have no insurance and cannot afford to pay.

Ronald McDonald Houses All monies go to running the houses for parents who have critical Children in the hospital. 100% goes to housing, and feeding the families.

Shriner’s Hospitals for Children 100% of donations go to pay for research and treatment of children with defromities and burns. There is no outside support from Government or Foundations, only through generous donations. The costs are nearly 2 million dollars per day to operate the 22 orthopedic and burns hospitals around the world.

Now He’s After Your 401(k)The White House pulls a switcheroo on retirement savings accounts.

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Thus do our political betters now feel free to define for everyone what is “needed” for a “reasonable” retirement. Not to be impertinent, but does this White House definition include being able to afford summers at age 70 at Martha’s Vineyard near the Obamas?

The feds may think $3 million is all you need after a lifetime of work, but that’s roughly the value of a California police sergeant’s pension if she works for 30 years, retires at age 50 and lives to normal life expectancy.

Out in the private economy, people generally have to work longer than that before they retire, and some of them do manage to save significant amounts. We’re talking about people who work for decades and abstain from buying the bigger house or the new car so they can contribute the maximum to their 401(k)s or IRAs. The people who defer gratification and build a nest egg to avoid becoming a burden on their kids or their fellow taxpayers. The people whose savings finance productive enterprise. You know, the bad guys.

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The Administration’s political motive here is two-fold: First, it’s a redistributionist play and a revenue grab. But for many on the left it’s also about reducing the ability of individuals to make themselves independent of the state. They have always disliked IRAs, just as they oppose health-savings accounts, because over time they make Americans less dependent on federal entitlements or transfer payments.

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Yeah, I know you all think I have a tin foil hat! So what.

Now the Wall Street Journal is in the same genre?

My concern is this is the first step towards exchanging your IRA/401K for an “enhanced social security benefit”.

I read somewhere that there is 14T$ in such plans. Held and controlled by ~2100 “custodians”. And the Gooferment needs about 13T$ to get back on an even keel.